mellowyellow
Well-known Member
by Jamie Seidel
……..Beijing was incensed that Prime Minister Scott Morrison had made a public call for a wide-ranging investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan. It risked damaging the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) reputation.
So it attempted to silence him. And set an example of what happens to nations that contradict the CCP. Australia’s $150 billion export market with China was its weakest link. So it was hit with a trade war. Barley. Beef. Coal. Copper. Cotton. Gas. Lobsters. Sugar. Timber. Wheat. Wine. Wool. All were suddenly subject to various tariff, dumping, hygiene and quality challenges. In essence, China stopped buying them.
“The trade guns were still smoking when, in November 2020, the Chinese Embassy in Canberra issued a list of “14 grievances” that Australia was expected to correct to return to a normal relationship,” said Dr Wilson.
It included:
– Funding “anti-China” research
– Counter-espionage raids against Chinese journalists
– Academic visa cancellations
– “Spearheading a crusade” against Beijing at international forums
– A Covid-19 origin “witch hunt”
– Banning Chinese tech firm Huawei’s involvement in Australia’s 5G network
– Blocking Chinese investment on national security grounds.
Those grievances have since become something of a badge of pride. Australia handed out copies of the list at the 2021 G7 Summit as an example of Beijing’s behaviour.
Australian Treasury estimates put the cost of Beijing’s sanctions at some $5.4 billion. But at least $4.4 billion of that was recovered through finding new markets.
For example, China switched its coal purchase to Russia and Indonesia. That left their previous buyers out in the cold. So, the likes of South Korea and Japan simply turned to Australia.
And the value of Australia’s exports to China grew – thanks to surging iron ore prices – over the past year. It’s not in Beijing’s interests to interrupt the flow of that strategically vital resource…….
https://www.news.com.au/finance/eco...d/news-story/45175246c2cf0111fb6bfd4e3af690fe
……..Beijing was incensed that Prime Minister Scott Morrison had made a public call for a wide-ranging investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan. It risked damaging the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) reputation.
So it attempted to silence him. And set an example of what happens to nations that contradict the CCP. Australia’s $150 billion export market with China was its weakest link. So it was hit with a trade war. Barley. Beef. Coal. Copper. Cotton. Gas. Lobsters. Sugar. Timber. Wheat. Wine. Wool. All were suddenly subject to various tariff, dumping, hygiene and quality challenges. In essence, China stopped buying them.
“The trade guns were still smoking when, in November 2020, the Chinese Embassy in Canberra issued a list of “14 grievances” that Australia was expected to correct to return to a normal relationship,” said Dr Wilson.
It included:
– Funding “anti-China” research
– Counter-espionage raids against Chinese journalists
– Academic visa cancellations
– “Spearheading a crusade” against Beijing at international forums
– A Covid-19 origin “witch hunt”
– Banning Chinese tech firm Huawei’s involvement in Australia’s 5G network
– Blocking Chinese investment on national security grounds.
Those grievances have since become something of a badge of pride. Australia handed out copies of the list at the 2021 G7 Summit as an example of Beijing’s behaviour.
Australian Treasury estimates put the cost of Beijing’s sanctions at some $5.4 billion. But at least $4.4 billion of that was recovered through finding new markets.
For example, China switched its coal purchase to Russia and Indonesia. That left their previous buyers out in the cold. So, the likes of South Korea and Japan simply turned to Australia.
And the value of Australia’s exports to China grew – thanks to surging iron ore prices – over the past year. It’s not in Beijing’s interests to interrupt the flow of that strategically vital resource…….
https://www.news.com.au/finance/eco...d/news-story/45175246c2cf0111fb6bfd4e3af690fe
